Nero’s Lesson 


Art, Untitled (Blue) by Pinchas Maryan

Leaders that hate 

Leaders like Nero 

There’s no debate

They’re absolute zero.

Compassion lacking

Hatred up front 

Cruelty gobsmacking

Insanely blunt.

War is hell

A hell they love

Their people aren’t well

Poverty they shove.

Propaganda and lies 

Political machines

Mother and babe cries  

And all in between.

Murder or revolution

Will make them retire

A simple conclusion 

Like Nero and the Roman Empire.

Ché, Pott, Castro, Perón

Lenin, Stalin, Pinochet, and Hitler

Men content to be alone

No exceptions, a stickler.

 –

Death before compromise

Led to bitter ends 

Only now can we surmise 

What tyranny portends.

Societies fall, it’s no riddle

As the world turns

Nero and his proverbial fiddle

Playing as his Rome burns…

-AAA 10/05/2024

¡NO!

Originally Published 04/03/2024

Originally composed to a young girl on a bet for a kiss in 1992, when she pointed to a garbage bin that read “No fire no ashes” on the side of it as my subject of inspiration.

No heat no fire.

No wants no desire.

No pain no gain.

No clouds no rain.

No love no hate.

No destiny no fate.

No passions no sex.

No more emotional wrecks.

No music no beat.

No fire no heat.

No wanting no need.

No selfishness no greed.

No water no sea.

No you and no me.

No ins and no outs.

No whispers no shouts.

No future no past.

No first no last.

No sharing challenges or feats.

No posts and no tweets.

No sky and no moon.

No April, May, or June.

No warmth no sun.

Last line I’m done…

-aaa